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For the first time in the history of Slingshot SEO, we actually locked the doors in the middle of a work day, turned on voice mail and assembled all of our local employees for a special event off site. Those actions alone heightened the staff’s anticipation of what was to come.

That day, which was last Monday, marked the First Annual Slingshot SEO Customer/Partner/Employee Awards. All of our employees and some very special guests journeyed to a nearby hotel to attend this special luncheon ceremony. Any event like this which turns out special usually does so for various reasons. This event was no exception!

Our special guests included several key individuals from two of our largest customers and a valued partner. (On a side note, the event would not have come off as well as it did without a great venue. You are never sure how good the food will be for a luncheon like this, but in this case we were pleasantly surprised. So I would be remiss if I did not express a few accolades to our nearby Marriott).

We kicked off the awards ceremony with a recap of numerous achievements for Slingshot SEO during 2011, all of which would not have been possible without our valued clients. I was so proud to elaborate on milestones such as being named Techpoint’s 2011 Information Technology Company of the Year; achieving a 128 percent growth rate in revenue; signing three Fortune 100 clients; being recognized as a stand-out leader in SEO by two of the largest companies in the world; receiving $1 million in tax incentives from the state of Indiana; adding 77 new associates; and being recognized as the 58th Fastest Growing Private Company in the nation by Inc. 500 with a 3,597 percent three-year growth rate.

As I stated at the podium, those accomplishments would not have represented a bad decade … let alone one year for a company!

The best part is that all of us believe 2012 will be even more exciting, as we alluded to during the event. Among the goals we’re looking to achieve this year include: Another 100 percent-plus growth in revenue; adding 50 to 70 new employees to our team; holding our first-ever national client conference in October; establishing an industry-leading SEO pricing model; adding new enterprise account executives in the Northeast, Southeast, lower Midwest and the West coast; establishing more key partnerships with industry-leading SEO organizations; moving to larger and more functional office space near our present location; achieving more local and national awards; and, of course, achieving industry leading results for our clients.

I hope you agree such results will make for quite an upcoming year. I know our team is pumped!

We reserved the best for the second half of our session. We took this marvelous opportunity to announce and recognize a couple of our outstanding clients, a trusted partner and four employees who set new standards in excellence.

I could easily write an entire blog post about each award recipient. I will opt for brevity and summarize our 2011 award winners below.

New Client of the Year – Angie’s List

Partner of the Year – Exact Target

Client of the Year – HCC Medical Insurance Services

Innovator of the Year – Paul Davison, VP Client Success

Rookie of the Year – Chris Cruz, SEO Consultant

Most Improved – Tracy Morgan, Human Resources Generalist

Employee of the Year – Jesse Laffen, Director of SEO Performance

All of our team agreed that our version of the Academy Awards was just as special, much more personal and thankfully much shorter in duration!

Please join with me in congratulating all of our winners. They will be one tough act to follow next year!!